Market Insight - What Obama's victory means for pharma
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
The new US President who takes the oath of office on January 20th, 2009 is committed to changing substantially the way the country delivers heathcare. That would have been true regardless of who won the election, but Barack Obama will focus much more attention on elements meant to curb pharma profits than John McCain would have. An October analysis by the Boston Consulting Group pegs the pharma revenue decline from Obama's proposals at at least $10 billion a year – and perhaps as much as three times that amount. Moreover, the election results in two ways give the new President extra clout in pushing his health system reform ideas: his Democratic party made significant gains in both houses of Congress (because of recounts and run-off elections, the final numbers won't be known until December) and the enthusiasm he generated – with the largest voter turnout in US history – gives him a mandate to make big changes.